BAC Class of 2012

BAC Commencement exercises were held on Saturday, May 26th at 11:00 am at the Old South Church, following the traditional BAC procession through the heart of our City, along Newbury Street, to one of the most historically significant churches in the United States. The weekend activities began Friday evening, with a special Honors and Awards Ceremony to recognize student achievements.

Dr. Theodore Landsmark convened the Commencement ceremony, and addressed the graduates, "You entered the BAC seeking to learn to be professional design practitioners, and each and every one of you is ready to become that - you have become our colleagues. And already you are showing leadership that will transform design in the decades ahead." President Landsmark continued, reminding that this class understands sustainability better than anyone ever before and has served diverse communities that need that service more than ever. He closed, congratulating the students, "You have brought accolades to the BAC by demonstrating that we are among the best, most professionally diversified and most innovative professional design schools in America."

Alan Webber, award-winning editor, author and columnist, delivered the Commencement address. The following is an excerpt:

"Today design is at the center of how we solve problems. How we think. How we express our hopes and aspirations. And architecture is a remedy for all kinds of society's deepest, most troubling problems -from the design of buildings that live, schools that work, hospitals that heal, and neighborhoods that nurture. In the short span of 40 years, the world has changed and design has moved from the periphery to the center of how we think, how we talk, how we express delight, how we communicate, how we create value, how we connect, how we innovate, how we hope to sustain life."To design" and "to architect" today are verbs - the highest and most active and most important part of speech in the English language. And yet, even with all of that - with all of that opportunity for impact and relevance, for creating meaning and solving serious social problems - for asking tougher questions and coming up with smarter answers - for all of that, it's not enough. It's not even looking in the right direction."

"We spend far too much time thinking and talking about everything on the outside and far too little on everything on the inside. As if somehow we believed we could design and architect perfect exterior representations of truth or beauty or clarity or harmony or sustainability without doing the work to find those values on the inside - in quiet moments of self-reflection, meditation, analysis, and prayer. In other words, the ultimate job of the architect is the design of the self."

The BAC awarded five honorary degrees to remarkable individuals, who have, throughout their lives and careers, displayed an extraordinary commitment to advancing the design professions by passing on the lessons that they have learned and seeking constantly to improve the world around them.